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California

Christine Staricka, BS, IBCLC, RLC, CCE

Christine is a hospital-based IBCLC and a certified childbirth educator. She has extensive experience in both inpatient and outpatient consultation, and has been involved in the creation of a local chapter of USLCA over the past 2 years. As an IBCLC who came from a mother-to-mother support background and began her career in lactation as a lactation educator, Christine is a passionate advocate for support groups. When she first read about the Baby Café model, she immediately realized that a Baby Café would fill many gaps in the breastfeeding environment of care in her community. As a professional lactation educator, she has seen how a Baby Café location can meet the needs of the professional community as well by providing access to opportunities for clinical experience for IBCLC interns and prospects. She is an advocate for breastfeeding and for IBCLCs every day of her life through her paid employment, myvolunteer work, and my personal involvement in community organizations. I would be honored to be part of the Board of Baby Café USA and to represent this organization, whose ideals so perfectly align with my own. Thank you for the opportunity to be considered for this privilege.

Colorado

Abby Malman, IBCLC, Birth Doula

Abby is the manager of donor relations at Mothers' Milk Bank in Colorado. She is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) a birth doula, and was on the board for the Portland Doula Association for five years. Abby worked in her private practice, Bliss Lactation, serving families in the Portland area until moving back to Colorado in 2016. She has been at Mothers' Milk Bank since 2016 and enjoys working with donors from all over the country helping to steward their generous donation of extra breastmilk to help give babies the best start in life. She lives in Denver with her husband, two sweet sons, and large extended family. Abby is humbled by the wisdom all mama's have, and hopes to provide more breastfeeding education and resources so more women can feel confident in their abilities to initiate breastfeeding and overcome breastfeeding hurdles.

Louisiana

Portia L. Williams, RN, BSN, IBCLC

Portia is located in New Orleans, LA and has been an International Lactation Consultant since 2009 and works as a LC at a local hospital. She is a proud graduate of the University of Lafayette, and has 13 years of Maternal Child experience. Her personal experience as a NICU mom guides her love for supporting breastfeeding parents. She is currently the CHAMPS Greater New Orleans Community and Hospital Consultant, and the CHAMPS NOLA Baby Café Facilitator. She also worked closely with Greater New Orleans Breastfeeding Awareness Coalition where she initiated a “Breastfeeding Friendly” Child Care Center program. Her career goal is to increase the number of minority Lactation Consultant and increase breastfeeding rates by empowering mom with love, support, and education by providing culturally relevant care. Portia is the proud mom of two healthy breastfed boys, whom she tandem nursed until the age of 3.5 years.

Mississippi

Tawanda Logan-Hurt, BSW, CLC

Tawanda is a native of Greenwood, Mississippi. She has worked in the Mississippi Delta as a Northern Region Breastfeeding Coordinator at the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) since June 2005. She is the CHEER/CHAMPS Mississippi Delta Community and Hospitals Consultant. In April 2016, she established the first Baby Café in Mississippi, the CHAMPS Delta Hills Baby Café, which she facilitates with her staff. She was the 2016 recipient of the Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA) Conference’s TaWanda Ferrill Breastfeeding Award. She also established the Delta Breastfeeding Coalition in January 2018 in partnership with the Delta Health Alliance program manager. She is an active church member, wife, biological mother of six children, five of which were breastfed.

North Carolina

Lisa Miller, BS, IBCLC

Lisa is a Hospital-based IBCLC providing both in-patient and out-patient services in a small community-based Baby-Friendly Hospital facility. Lisa is a graduate of The University of North Carolina, Greensboro with a BS in Nutrition and Dietetics and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies. Lisa teaches breastfeeding classes, including classes for mothers returning to work, and breastfeeding multiples. She leads the only Baby Cafe in the state of North Carolina and developed The Latch Line, a website for breastfeeding mothers. Lisa is a member of ILCA, USLCA, The North Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition, and the North Carolina Lactation Consultants Association. Lisa is the mother of 4 children, including twins, who were all breastfed.

Oklahoma

Danielle Lugrand, CLC, CLE, DONA

Danielle is currently the director of the Coalition of Oklahoma Breastfeeding Advocates Baby Cafés. She has been serving Oklahoma families since 2000 as a DONA Certified Birth Doula. In 2007, she became the first DONA Certified Postpartum Doula in the state. She became a trained breastfeeding educator through the OK State WIC Program in 2001; a Certified Breastfeeding Educator (CBE) in 2014; and a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) through the Healthy Children’s Project in 2015. Through the Doula Association of Central Oklahoma, Danielle gained experience in serving both the public and peer professionals as Public Relations Chair, Secretary, Vice President, and President. She also served on the DONA International Certification committee for five years. She is a wife, mother of six, and grandmother of four. Danielle has a passion for serving growing families and increasing the number of Baby Cafés for Oklahoma mothers.